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Our only currency in public life is public trust. Residents and taxpayers rightfully expect that their elected and appointed officials meet the highest ethical standards and that no one is using their public position for private gain. The integrity of our County depends on it.
A recent breach of that public trust brought to light a number of ways in which our County’s ethics law needed to be strengthened to prevent similar situations and the need to end the controversial practice of unregulated and undisclosed discretionary severance pay for political appointees. I’m pleased that yesterday, the Council unanimously approved two bills I introduced – the Public Accountability and County Transparency (PACT) Act and a companion piece of legislation that ends discretionary severance pay and prohibits separation pay for an employee who violated the County’s ethics law.
- The PACT Act prohibits the Chief Administrative Officer, the appointed leader responsible for the day-to-day operations of County government, from other employment and adds the sale or promotion of intellectual property such as books, videos, and artwork as types of other employment. County leaders shouldn’t be using their public positions to profit off of intellectual property.
- While those who leave elected County government are prohibited by law to lobby on County government issues for a year, the same protections against conflicts of interest in permitting, procurement, and many other matters weren’t in place for when public officials enter County employment. The PACT Act fixes that by prohibiting a County employee from participating in any matter with a business or individual the employee was associated with in the prior 12 months. A County employee participating in any matter with a business or individual the employee was associated with more than 12 months prior must also disclose that relationship to ensure transparency and prevent conflicts of interest.
- The PACT Act also establishes new and needed disclosure requirements. Appointed and elected officials who do have outside employment must, for the first time, disclose the sources of fees of more than $1,000 in their financial disclosures. The County Executive branch must also disclose proposed contracts, not just salaries, for all appointments so the public can see all taxpayer funded compensation and benefits as well as contracts for current appointed leaders.
The PACT Act and bill to end discretionary severance pay follow our landmark legislation last year with Councilmember Navarro and Councilmember Katz, my colleagues on the Government Operations Committee, to require proactive oversight by the independent Office of Inspector General (OIG) of all County departments and offices on a systematic basis. We’ve also increased resources for the OIG, which has uncovered important spending and information security issues in County government this year.
No responsibility is more central to our role as elected officials than ensuring County government leaders are acting ethically and in the best interests of County, our residents, taxpayers, and businesses. The PACT Act reaffirms and strengthens our commitment to protecting trust in our government by ensuring leaders can’t use their public positions for their own personal priorities, clamps down on potential conflicts of interest, and requires the type of open disclosures about the use of taxpayer dollars that are the hallmark of good government.
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